The committee approved the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act in July 2023 and may now proceed to a vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives
Legislators affiliated with the House Financial Services Committee of the United States have declared their readiness to conduct a comprehensive floor vote on FIT21, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act.
Following deliberations in the House Committee on Rules, House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry announced on May 10 that the entire chamber might be prepared to vote “later this month” on the FIT21 bill.
The committee approved legislation to clarify the regulatory responsibilities of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about digital assets in July 2023.
“After tirelessly working across the aisle and across the nation over the past year to craft a clear, pragmatic regulatory framework for digital assets, I am proud that this landmark legislation is coming to the House Floor,” said Representative French Hill. “As the collapse of FTX demonstrated, we need strong consumer protections and a functional regulatory framework to ensure the rapidly growing digital asset ecosystem is safe for investors and consumers while securing America as a leader for blockchain innovation.”
As per Republican legislators, the FIT21 bill would clarify the SEC’s function about cryptocurrencies and grant the CFTC additional jurisdiction over digital commodities.
The declaration was made after a bipartisan vote in the House supporting a resolution that nullified an SEC accounting rule on cryptocurrencies, which was heavily criticized by several for imposing limitations on banks.
“[S]takeholders now have updated bill language to assess the changes that have been made since the bill was marked up by HFSC and [Republicans] and [Democrats] last July and approved with bipartisan support,” said Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Sheila Warren.
“While FIT21 is not a perfect bill (no bill is!), this is a critical and historic step toward establishing a federal regulatory framework for digital assets in the U.S.”
Because the US is currently in the midst of an election year, numerous lawmakers are continuing to make regulating and controlling digital assets a campaign issue. Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, has formed a political action committee inside its Stand With Crypto program.
The group will support candidates who favour cryptocurrency in the year 2024. In December, Representative McHenry said that he did not intend to run for reelection to his current position.